July 2013

07/31/2013

I'm doing that thing again. The paper piecing thing. But this time with diamonds instead of hexagons. Downloading the paper templates for these shapes was probably the root cause of my troubles from last week. So piecing these has been bittersweet.
I'm also doing that other thing again. That Christmas in July thing. I'm blaming the weather, something about those soaring temperatures outside (hottest ever in my lifetime) just makes me want to get busy with robins and reindeers.
It all seems so wrong somehow but sometimes wrong is the only thing that is right don't you find? :)

07/23/2013

This is what I've been keeping busy with so far this July. These might look like eeny teeny hexagons, stitched together and then appliqued on to a coaster. But they have served as therapy and distraction for me. Because someone decided to hack into my computer and then went on a spending spree on me. Dealing with the aftermath has been exhausting to say the least. And when I have felt so drained I couldn't even talk another word, never have I been so glad to own a needle and thread and itty bitty pieces of fabric.

07/10/2013

A few months back, around 4 days after we moved house and when we were sans internet I got to see the strike offs for my new Hello Petal line. In between putting together Ikea furniture and unpacking boxes, I decided on my final selection from the prints, took a few snapshots with my Ipad, changed my mind a million and a half times, took more snapshots and then quickly sent the package back before I had a chance to change my mind again.

I came across the pictures again the other day and thought that you might like to see them too. These photo's pretty much show the final line up but there were a few changes so the odd print has been swapped out and changed.

It's fun to see the fabrics all laid out together (although those navy prints look quite bleached out in these pics they're not in real life). Hello Petal is being shown to the quilt shops this month for orders that will ship in December. If you'd like your favourite store (whether online or bricks and mortar) to stock this line, now is the time to let them know.

I sneaked a peek of this cat print from the line a few weeks ago on my instagram feed, I have to say I was more than a little shocked to have got those 299 likes. Fun to see such a good response though!

07/09/2013

I finished up my bear paw pillow that I started last week. As soon as it was done I couldn't help but make a quilt version.

With the arrival of quite a few sunny days in a row, me and my girls decided that what we really needed was a nice picnic quilt to lounge about on on the lawn in our back garden. I finished it up on Friday and it has been in use everyday since then (my favourite kind of end result).

The sunshine is definitely influencing me in all kinds of ways. I quilted both the pillow and quilt versions using yellow thread (I normally only ever quilt using white). The colour is perfect and adds just the right amount of zing without over cooking things.

Fabrics are mostly from my Little Apples line for the dark 'paws' and a mix of low volume fabrics from all my lines for the background. For the yellow thread I used Aurifil 28 wt thread in shade 2130.

I used a grey/red Play Dot from Sherbet Pips for the backing.

I also got my green fingers on and did a little planting out in the back garden much to the dismay of my husband. My absolute favourites are these white Rhondathemums ( I hope I've spelt that right).

And then there are these pretty little lilac-y marguerites, so pretty. I can't wait for them to get growing so I can have dinky little vases of them in the house. Maybe I'll get my girls to sing to them to get them to grow. They always fall for that one.

07/08/2013

Today I am kick starting a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of the print version of The Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes. In case you don't know April, she is a super talented, super stylish and super duper lovely lady. The Staple Dress is her very first pattern and has been out as a PDF for a short while.

I bought the pattern in the PDF format a few weeks back and made mine in a day, some things I really like about this pattern are -

07/03/2013

Yesterday I stitched up the courthouse steps blocks I've made so far and then promptly put them to the side. They produce such a lovely textured effect but they are so energy draining to put together that I had to go and have a lie down. And while I was lying down, I started thinking about how some blocks are so much more enjoyable to put together than others (which has no correlation to the finished result just the stitching up part). I think I would rate the CS block as a 2 out of 10 for block making enjoyability rating.

This block on the other hand is what I started piecing once I'd done the lying down and pondering thing. These are bear paw blocks and I'd give these a pleasing 12 out of 10 block making enjoyability rating. Do not be fooled by all those half square triangles they come together ever so quick. Like magic ta da quick.

I used lots of my Little Apples fabric line mixed in with some low volume fabrics from various lines of mine.

I've pieced these into a panel to cover a pillow. And right after I have finished making that, I'll be making a bear paw picnic blanket then some bear paw placemats and once I get myself some Hello Petal, I'll be putting together a bear paw quilt.

And if you just so happen to be wanting to do a little bear paw ing yourselves, there will be a free PDF how to available right here on the blog in a few weeks time. Plenty of time to work out what you want to make :)

07/02/2013

I started on these blocks yesterday, they are scrap hoovers but a little time consuming to make. I think the block is called court house steps. I'd love a whole quilt made out of them but I'm not sure if I have the stamina. I was getting on well with the blocks until...

This book arrived (at last), I contributed a project to it last year and it's been a fun distraction to ooh and ahh over all the good stuff in it. The book is called Stitch Zakka and is published by Stash Books.

But before I get too carried away with all the stuff I could make I suppose I'd better get on with what I've already started.

07/01/2013

I made the most of the warm weather over the weekend by spending lots of time outside, including going for a fun cycle ride around our new neighbourhood with my littlest daughter and spending a little time finishing up the binding on my Meow quilt, sitting out on a picnic blanket in the back garden chatting with my girls.

I finally sorted out a quilt hanging solution for my sewing room. I invested in a custom made curtain track and paid to have it fitted for me by the folks at John Lewis. I'm still using the silver hanging clips that came with my Ikea Deka hanging wire, so the purchase did come in handy after all. The track is called Silent Gliss 1080, is really sturdy and takes the weight of the quilt no problem.

The bendy look of this shot is all down to my photo taking skills, the track is thankfully nicely straight.

I quilted this one with an all over flower pattern which was quite easy. I'm not sure if is was the best option for this quilt as the design is lost in amongst all of the prints but I hope once its washed and a little shrunk the flower pattern will stand out more.